Boos at Southampton & bleating from pundits won’t break Van Dijk

The defender will face a hostile reception on Sunday, but has the steeliness to ignore the jeers as well as the quick judgement of his abilities

The speed with which a club is derided for not spending big on a player they need is surpassed by the swiftness with which they are decried for spending big on a player they need. Forgive the parallelism to an ancient proverb and welcome to modern football coverage.

Jurgen Klopp knew the above to be accurate, envisioned the cannon of criticism being armed around the corner and so, when Liverpool parted with £75 million for Virgil van Dijk from Southampton, the German manager went on the offensive.

“Forget about the price” was his instruction. “We only…